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Most ‘Merican Summer Olympic Moments in the last 25 Years—Number 3

2008 Beijing Olympics: Mens 4×100 Freestyle Relay

There are so many amazing “Michael Phelps Olympic Moments” that it is a little hard to pick just one. However, this race stands out for one reason that I find especially entertaining – it involves making an arrogant French guy eat his words and look monumentally stupid. Just watching the race a few times on YouTube in the preparation for this article gave me Bald Eagle bumps. French swimming star and world record holder, Alain Bernard, was quoted by the media prior to the race saying, “The Americans? We are going to smash them,” in the 4×100 relay. It must be said that the real hero of this race was actually Jason Lezak, rather than Phelps. As the anchor man in the relay, Lezak was able to recover from a body length deficit behind the French world record holder. It was an incredible, “come from behind” win. I vividly remember jumping around the living room and screaming at the TV like an idiot in the final moments of this race. After the race, while attempting to drunkenly high-five my roommate, I got too excited and missed, and just slapped him right in the face. I don’t think he even noticed.